The Grueling Process of Applying to Medical School in 2020
Advice from a newly minted medical student.
As an entering U.S. medical student, I can attest to the challenges of applying to medical school today. As the upcoming application cycle approaches, I thought I would share the steps it takes to get into medical school for those of you that may be curious.
To give you some background, I am a woman in my mid-twenties that applied to medical school twice before getting accepted. I completed both a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Biological Sciences along with a plethora of extracurriculars. I scribed in an emergency department, volunteered in a medical brigade to Nicaragua, worked as a full-time cancer clinical researcher, became a certified domestic violence counselor in the state of California, and piloted a research program for minority, first-generation college students.
This list is only half of the activities I completed as an undergraduate and graduate premedical student.
So, how difficult is it to get into medical school?
According to the AAMC, in the 2019–2020 application cycle, there were 896,819 applicants, and only 21,869 of those matriculated. These numbers translate to a 2.4% acceptance rate to U.S. M.D. programs. Compare this to the 2018 national law school acceptance rate of 45.8%.
So, what makes it so challenging to get into medical school?
Many would argue that it is the multi-step, grueling application process. Others may say that it is the cost of application, which ultimately eliminates the possibility of applying for many low-income students.
So, let’s break down the 3-step application process: the primary application, secondary application, and interviews.
The primary application includes…
The Daunting Personal Statement
A 5,300-character maximum, roughly 1.5 pages single-spaced piece of writing with a 12-point font which answers, “Why do you want to go to medical school?” Seems simple enough, right? No. There is no formula for writing this statement. Here, you have to assume a salesman position and sell your story on paper to convince an admissions committee to offer you a seat in their program.
The Work and Activities Section
The categories for these activities can range from artistic endeavors, military service, publications, to research. In this section, students are asked to include 15 “significant experiences” only. What does this even mean? “Significant experiences” are subjective and can range from a one-time interaction with a stranger to a 3-year-long mentorship with a student. Only three can be designated as the most meaningful, using 1,325 characters to explain why.
GPA
A student’s GPA is broken down into the BCPM (bio/chem/physics/math) GPA and cumulative GPA. No matter what anyone tells you, applying to medical school is a numbers game. Schools screen applicants based on their statistics before they even look at the rest of the application.
MCAT
This 7.5-hour exam alone is a deterrent for many students. The exam sections include Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems, Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills, Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems, and Psychological/Social/Biological Foundations of Behavior. Preparation for this exam can range from a few months to several years. Not to mention, building the mental stamina to take such a lengthy exam requires preparation in and of itself.
Letters of Recommendation
Although there is no magical number of letters needed to convince an admissions committee that you are worthy as an applicant, there are many nuances to asking the “right” letter writers and including the “key info” when describing an applicant.
Phew — we made it.
But wait, there’s more!
The Secondary Application
In the secondary application, applicants answer institution-specific questions, usually in an essay format. It’s an easy way for schools to generate profit without actually offering a legitimate chance of acceptance to applicants. You see, many schools have a GPA and MCAT cutoff. Some schools choose to screen applicants before sending them secondary applications, whereas other schools decide not to screen applicants. The latter schools are knowingly asking “unqualified students” to pay a fee (up to $125 per school) by submitting a secondary application without having any intention of interviewing these applicants because they simply don’t meet the minimum criteria.
One school asked me to report any minor traffic violations on their secondary application, in addition to a criminal record. I understand the importance of being an ethical physician, but traffic violations? That seems a bit much. (For those wondering, I luckily didn’t have any to report).
The In-Person Interviews
Formats for the in-person interview can vary based on the institution: one-on-one, panel, or multiple mini interviews (MMI). Thus, students have to prepare accordingly, which poses yet another challenge. I recall the MMI interviews as the most challenging since there are 8–12 different stations, the topics can be completely obscure, and the interviewee must be able to think on their feet. On the other hand, this interview-style gives the interviewee multiple chances to showcase their strengths.
It is imperative to note that the cost of travel and lodging is not covered by the institution where the interview is taking place. In other words, broke college students have to find a way to cover the costs of attending multiple interviews. For the average student, this can be a substantial financial burden.
After all of this, an admissions committee can choose to accept, deny, or waitlist applicants. People question, “Why is there a doctor shortage in America?” When an application process is so tricky (and not to mention expensive) with such low acceptance rates, many qualified and capable students are turned off by the idea of applying to medical school.
So, what’s the takeaway here?
The medical school application process is multilayered. Often, it takes years of preparation and a lot of financial planning. Due to low acceptance rates in comparison to other graduate programs, the process can be intimidating for many students.
Although simplifying the process may attract more applicants, ultimately, there needs to be an increase in residency positions for medical schools to increase class sizes and, therefore, increase acceptance rates — more on that in a different post.
To conclude, the issue at hand is more complicated than it seems, but we can start by increasing funding for more residency positions.
